Any technology or tool is worthless unless it is being used by ‘some’ organization somewhere. It all starts from organizations adopting the new technology or a tool and then it gets popular slowly. In that sense QA Job Descriptions are a great source of current technology, i.e. practical tech. being used by IT organizations. Be it Selenium, Protractor, Appium, API tools, Big Data Testing, etc. Everything is embedded in the QA Job descriptions, you just need to mine some data 😉 But don’t worry. Continuing on our “JD Talks” series – we mine hundreds of QA Job descriptions to come up with latest tools, technology, languages and concepts. Let’s see what the fourth set of JDs talk about…

“How do you connect to a Database?” the interviewer asked. That was simple, right. Using a Database connection string I said. But what do you pass in connection string and how does it works at the backend? Oh Oh! They need the details. As a tester, most of the testing is centered on web applications (i.e. browser) and now-a-days mobile apps. But as with API testing, Database testing & SQL is growing in demand. Database knowledge is something every tester is expected to know about. So with this article we try to explain how to connect to a database, in detail.

Exploratory Testing has gained popularity in past few years. There are several studies and has also received much of professional attention from the industry. Exploratory Testing gives power to the tester together with responsibility; it offers great freedom and opportunity to the tester for exploring and identifying areas for improvement. But why do we need exploratory testing if we’re already doing a good level of scripted testing? We’re writing test scenarios in each story, running them on different builds until they all pass, and we’re also running them in regression to make doubly sure that the product is still working. Sound good and thorough – what’s the point in doing more software testing on top of that? Well, there are a few good reasons to do exploratory testing in addition to the regular, scripted testing. It exposes the underlying issues within your product, app or website and allows testers to literally explore the functionality.

Any technology or tool is worthless unless it is being used by ‘some’ organization somewhere. It all starts from organizations adopting the new technology or a tool and then it gets popular slowly. In that sense QA Job Descriptions are a great source of current technology, i.e. practical tech. being used by IT organizations. Be it Selenium, Protractor, Appium, API tools, Big Data Testing, etc. Everything is embedded in the QA Job descriptions, you just need to mine some data 😉 But don’t worry. Continuing on our “JD Talks” series – we mine hundreds of QA Job descriptions to come up with latest tools, technology, languages and concepts. Let’s see what the third set of JDs talk about…

The Software testing community experienced an exciting year of 2017 with many trends taking shape. Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, continuing trend in adoption of DevOps, increasing test automation, shortening release schedules, and the lack of time for testing. The prevailing state of software testing is getting more challenging with every day passing. With the huge demand for high-quality products within a short time span, the role of testing has grown beyond just another process. Not a single software product could be released without its quality testing and bug fixing. The Software testing industry is always evolving and transforming to new horizons that’s why it’s better to forecast and predict such trends ahead of everyone. This article makes bold predictions for Software Testing trends of 2018.

Sometimes systems crush. And when they crush, they become headline news. The past few years have seen a sharp increase in the number and severity of software glitches at major companies. These newsworthy software “fails” have a negative impact on customer satisfaction & public reputation. The aftermath of each new failure is frequently projected across the internet, and can follow businesses around for years. The results of a phenomenally simple software error can affect the life of millions of people in the most negative way. Let’s take a look at some of the top Software glitches of 2017 to serve as a reminder of just how important Software testing is.

Any technology or tool is worthless unless it is being used by ‘some’ organization somewhere. It all starts from organizations adopting the new technology or a tool and then it gets popular slowly. In that sense QA Job Descriptions are a great source of current technology, i.e. practical tech. being used by IT organizations. Be it Selenium, Protractor, Appium, API tools, Big Data Testing, etc. Everything is embedded in the QA Job descriptions, you just need to mine some data 😉 But don’t worry. Continuing on our “JD Talks” series – we mine hundreds of QA Job descriptions to come up with latest tools, technology, languages and concepts. Let’s see what the second set of JDs talk about…

The complexity of Software systems and the demand of customers and users are increasing every day. It has become evident that testing must be treated as a disciplined and controlled process. Test professionals must learn precise techniques and methods by which they can deliver software with a much higher degree of confidence. Individuals who are charged with the responsibility of testing computer systems must receive formal education, i.e. Testing Certifications. Testing certifications are in great demand! It is assumed that you already have one of them or at least you are planning/preparing to have one of them soon. Being a Software Tester, is it mandatory to have an ISTQB Certification?

Testing terminologies can sometimes confuse even the most experienced of IT professionals. If you were asked to write a test case, you would know what to do. What about a Test scenario? Or a Test condition? The first step is learning what different Testing terminologies actually mean. To a layman Test conditions, Test Scenarios, Test cases and Test suite might seem similar but there is a subtle difference between these terms which make a world of difference for a Software tester. Each of these implies a different level of detail and is used for a different purpose. Once a tester knows what each of these terms mean, they can figure out how to use them to describe the testing work that is done on a daily basis.

Industry is sure moving to Automated Test execution. But as I say – Automation is confirmatory, Manual tests are more exploratory. Only Automation testing is not enough, so testers need to be good at finding bugs. “Finding Bugs” is one characteristic that differentiates a good tester from a mediocre tester. The basic principle is to combine things that programmers didn’t expect with common failure modes of your platform. Always remember, Testers don’t break the software. It is already broken. You just need to find those broken pieces and help make the software better.

Exploratory testing, is all about discovery, investigation and learning. It’s like Machine learning, in concept. It empathizes on learning and adaptability. While the software is being tested, the tester learns things that together with experience and creativity generates new good tests to run. It emphasizes on personal freedom and responsibility of the individual tester. Exploratory testing is done without any specific plans and schedules. Test cases are not created in advance but testers check system on the fly. They may note down ideas about what to test before test execution. The focus of exploratory testing is more on testing as a “thinking” activity.

This is one of the most common questions discussed among the Agile Community – What happens with the undone User Story of Current Sprint? Why does this happen? How should you deal with the undone user story? What should become of such stories? What should be done with the product backlog item itself? Should be it split or should it be carried into the next sprint? Should the team receive any velocity “credit” for completing a portion of the story? And how do you prevent it from happening again? This article addresses all of these questions.

Agile software testing is the requirement of a modern software development team. Choosing agile testing tools is not an option anymore, it’s a necessity. If you want the end product to be effective, speedy and sustainable simultaneously, you must go with a tool which provides agile testing solutions under a feasible budget.

Definition of done is one of the Agile fundamental things. Yet many teams do not see its importance or are unsure what Definition of Done actually is. The term is also often confused with the acceptance criteria, leading to mis-communications and false expectations. So, let’s have a look at this important agile concept – the definition of done.

About STS

Software Testing Studio is an attempt to share some incredible knowledge from industry leaders & experts, which should be helpful for anybody to start his/her career in ‘Software Testing’ or to progress it further. Apart from the technical nitty-gritties, one can also find some intellectual posts by industry experts sharing their Wisdom.